Amid the jubilation over Bafana Bafana qualifying for the 2026 Fifa World Cup there’s gloom when it comes to the South Africa Under-17s’ prospects at their global showpiece starting next month in Qatar.
The South African Football Association (Safa) is scrambling to put a team together less than three weeks before the Fifa U-17 World Cup starts on November 3. Amajimbos are in action from day one as they meet Bolivia, while hosts Qatar meet Italy at the Aspire Zone sports complex in Al Rayyan.
The fault of not procuring players is not entirely Safa’s as the final exams in South African schools are written at this time of the year and, crucially, Grade 12 exams cannot be written via correspondence.
This has left Amajimbos coach Vela Khumalo in a tight spot. Sunday Times has learnt that an ad hoc Amajimbos skeleton squad had its first training session in Johannesburg on Tuesday, but it has been difficult for Khumalo to name his final squad as some of his frontline players will not be available.
What has been under Safa’s control, and is becoming the source of much criticism, is the absence of preparation matches played by Amajimbos since they qualified for the World Cup by reaching the quarterfinals of the U-17 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in May. This is despite Khumalo having sent his pre-Qatar programme to Safa, including proposals for friendly matches.
“You cannot have players who are, first, writing matric exams and, second, some of their parents are saying, ‘I will not allow my kid to come and sit at a training camp at this point,’” Safa communications head Mninawa Ntloko said.
“Third, this is not a tournament where Fifa allows us to get the players we want [because it is not on a Fifa international date].”
Ntloko said the Amajimbos squad will be announced in the next few days and they will leave for Qatar on October 30, four days before they face Bolivia.
“The fact is, like it or not, we can’t get the players we want. This tournament is placed at an awkward time because of the exams and you cannot write by correspondence in matric exams.”
The players who are not available for the tournament include captain Lwandiso Radebe, who is writing his Grade 12 exams.
Under these circumstances there is little hope Amajimbos will perform well in Qatar and it is unlikely they can match what the South Africa U-20s achieved in their World Cup this month in Chile, where they were knocked out by Colombia in the last 16.
Even coach Raymond Mdaka’s U-20s might have fared better in Chile. They also did not have strong preparation in terms of warm-up matches. Tellingly, a team Amajita beat in the U-20 Afcon final in Egypt in May, Morocco, had far better preparation and won the U-20 World Cup.
“It’s all about hope and talent, and it will go with how quickly we adapt to situations,” a source close to the U-17 team said. “But you know, Qatar is extremely hot. Let’s hope our boys will overcome all of that because of talent and tactical understanding of how we want to do things.
“Preparation was good before Afcon in Morocco, but with this one there’s no preparation at all.”
With such a poor build-up, former Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates youth coach Zipho Dlangalala, who has had senior stints with clubs including TS Galaxy and Maritzburg United (now Durban City FC), expressed no hope of Amajimbos making much impact in Qatar. Dlangalala said teams that do well in tournaments almost always have had strong preparation.
He said Morocco did not become U-20 world champions by mistake, stressing they played four matches (two against Egypt and two against the US) after losing the Afcon final to South Africa on May 15. In total they played 14 international in Under-20 matches before they went to Chile, 10 of those against fellow African opposition.
“This [neglect of youth football at all levels] is mainly why we [South African football] are where we are. At the 2026 World Cup we will face three opponents all ranked above us because we’ll be in pot four [of the draw].
“That Safa is sitting with youth coaches’ material [reports] for more than 36 months since being presented to its technical committee is no accident. That material has the potential to change the performances of not only our youth teams but impact positively at senior level.
“What has been missing is the will from those in charge at Safa at all levels.”
Safa president Danny Jordaan and his executive and leadership structure have been accused by many of prioritising election campaigning and securing top positions over football development.
Given the challenges Amajimbos will face on an already tough global stage, let’s hope Safa’s lack of support does not prove too costly.
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